Women and their Presentation in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus

This paper examines Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and her treatment of women. Adichie is a notable writer whose prominence has flown beyond the African continent. She is a feminist writer who writes from a woman’s perspective and also on all issues affecting the Continent. Her female characters are fierce and they represent the uncompromising prototypes who are challenging and ready to challenge the status quo. They are radical in nature. Purple Hibiscus is her first Novel published in 2003 and it brought her positive reception from critics. Purple Hibiscus is a post-colonial text that belongs to post-colonial literature. It is a feminist novel. It chronicles female characters who have confronted with unfair treatment from their male-dominated families. Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus reworks women’s images by highlighting male oppressors that disempower women and cause them to suffer mentally and physically. She portrays the situation of women inside the family as well as in society and focuses on different forms of oppressions and how those oppressions push women to support each other. In Purple Hibiscus, Adichie pushes women from the margins to the center as she challenges patriarchy. Adichie succeeded in making her female characters help and be friends with one another, which eventually leads to empowerment.

Womanism, Female, Chimamanda, Writer

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